The Princess at the Party
by Col3725
Summary: After learning that Brennan's never had a birthday party, Booth's current mission is to remedy that. One-shot. Follows 9x18


**_After watching Monday's episode, I just had to write this story. Pure fluff. Enjoy :)_**

* * *

Booth hoists Christine up onto the island countertop and hands her the bowl of pancake batter. "You remember the plan, Honey?"

Christine nods, beaming at her father, as she begins to stir the batter. "Yep. We wake up Mommy with breakfast in bed, then I says I really wanna go to the park and I want her to take me 'cause Daddy gots to go to work for a while. Then we come back and party!"

He smiles at his little girl, brushing off the bit of batter she managed to splash onto her cheek. "And?"

She presses her finger to her lips. "Shhhh. I'm good at keeping secrets, Daddy. Mommy won't no nothing."

He reaches over to take the bowl from her, but she shakes her head.

"I wanna do it. Please, Daddy, can I? Can I?"

He nods. "Go ahead, Angel."

"Yay!" She gets onto her knees and lifts the bowl over the griddle.

He steadies her hands and helps tilt the bowl, making sure the three year-old doesn't make _that_ big of a mess. He cleans off the access batter from the hot surface and sets the bowl in the sink.

"Can we wake up Mommy now?"

He shakes his head. "Not yet. Not until breakfast is ready."

She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest. "Okay."

He adjusts the cooking temperature and lifts his daughter up, setting her down on her feet. "Go play. I'll call you when it's time to wake Mom up."

She nods and runs off to the living room, her arms flailing out at her sides.

He gets the tray ready, placing a vase with a single daffodil, a glass of orange juice, and bowl of raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries on it, along with an empty plate that will soon hold the stack of pancakes he's in the process of making. He presses each down with his spatula and then flips them. Glancing into the living room, he smiles as he listens to Christine talk to her baby doll. He turns back and puts the finished pancakes on the empty plate. Thinking, he decides to clean up the kitchen now before they bring breakfast up to Brennan. With the room now spotless, he lifts the tray and walks into the living room.

Christine immediately drops her doll and jumps up, running over to him. "Is it time, Daddy? Is it? Is it?" She's bouncing up and down.

He laughs. "Yeah, Honey, it's time."

She bolts up the stairs and waits by their bedroom, her arm stretched, her hand already on the knob.

He comes up behind her and motions to the door. "You can open it now."

She pushes open the door and tip-toes into the room. "Mommy's sleeping, Daddy," she whispers.

"I know, Angel, that's why we're going to wake her up."

She approaches the bed and then crawls up onto the mattress. She scurries up to the pillows and shakes her mother's shoulder. "Wake up, Mommy!"

Brennan stirs and brushes her hair away from her face sleepily. She groans and opens her eyes. She's met with her daughter's bright blue eyes and brilliant smile. "Good morning, Sweetheart."

"Daddy and me maked pancakes."

"You did?"

Christine nods. "Yep!"

Brennan fights back a yawn and pushes herself up into a sitting position, pressing her back against the pillows. She catches Booth in her peripheral and turns her head. Her eyes fall to the tray he's carrying and focus on the single daffodil. "What's this for?"

Booth shrugs, trying to keep a straight face. He doesn't want to ruin the surprise. "Just 'cause I love you."

"Oh. This is highly unnecessary, Booth."

He carries the tray over to her and lays it across her lap.

Brennan smiles. "But thank you." She sniffs the flower and sighs. She raises an eyebrow when she sees Booth wink at Christine.

Christine giggles and shifts onto her knees. "Mommy, can we go to the park today? Daddy's gotta work. His boss is a meany-pants."

Brennan swallows the bite of pancake she just popped in her mouth and nods. "Yes, of course."

"Yay!" Christine gives her father a thumbs-up.

Brennan furrows her brows. _They are up to something. _"What's going on?"

Booth shakes his head. "Nothing."

Brennan looks to their daughter, who shrugs in response. "Something is definitely going on. You two are acting _weird._" _This is very frustrating. _

"Enjoy your breakfast, Bones. I've gotta run." He leans over and presses a chaste kiss to her lips. "Have fun at the park, you two."

Christine waves. "Bye, Daddy."

"Goodbye, Booth. What time will you be home?"

"Eh, could be an hour, could be three."

"Okay. We'll most likely be at the park for a couple of hours, so if you finish within that time frame, come find us."

"Will do." He gives her another quick kiss and walks out of the bedroom.

* * *

Brennan takes a sip of her orange juice and looks at Christine. "Did you eat breakfast?"

Christine nods. "Uh-huh. Daddy maked me oatmeal." She scoots down and snuggles into her mother's side, closing her eyes.

Brennan smiles down at the little girl and finishes up her breakfast. "Christine, Honey, are you awake?"

Christine rubs her eyes and looks up at her mother.

"Go pick out one of your books and bring it back in here. I have to take a shower and get dressed, and then we can go to the park."

Christine rolls off the bed and heads to her bedroom. She pulls _Charlotte's Web_ off the shelf and rushes back into her parents' bedroom. "Mommy?"

"In the bathroom. Come in," came Brennan's muffled voice.

Christine opens the door and walks in, pressing the door closed until she hears the click.

Brennan, who's standing at the sink, unties her robe and motions to the seat beside the shower. "Go sit down there and read your book while I take a shower."

Christine happily obliges, hopping up onto the padded chair, tucking her legs under her butt.

"Read aloud, Sweetheart, okay? Read to me."

Christine nods.

Brennan drops the robe and steps into the already running shower, leaving the door open just a smidge so she can still hear Christine.

Christine sounds out the letters and slowly reads, stumbling over a few words here and there.

Brennan smiles, offering help when she hears the little girl struggling. Christine's advanced for her age, but she's still only three. "Good job, Christine. Keep going," Brennan encourages her daughter.

"Okay, Mommy."

Brennan rinses out her conditioner, combing her fingers through her soaking wet hair. "Christine?" She calls out when she realizes the three year-old stopped reading.

"I'm going potty."

"Oh, okay. Don't forget to flush."

"I know, Mommy. I'm a big girl."

Brennan smiles. "Yes, you are." She hears the tinkling of metal as Christine unravels the toilet paper, which is soon followed by a whoosh of water. "Wash your hands," she reminds her daughter.

"I know that too." Christine hops down and pulls up her pants. She pads over to the sink and pushes over her stepstool. She climbs onto it and reaches to flip on the faucet.

Brennan listens as her little girl sings a made-up tune, something she always does when she's washing her hands or brushing her teeth. She turns off the shower and dries off before stepping onto the mat and wrapping herself in the fluffy terrycloth.

"All clean!" Christine says, holding up her dripping wet hands for her mother to see.

Brennan nods, smiling at her. "I'll be in the bedroom." She leaves the bathroom and heads over to the closet. She wipes away some extraneous moisture from her body before getting dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a comfortable t-shirt. She decides to go with sneakers, instead of boots, since they are much more practical for running around in the park with a three year-old.

Christine skips out of the bathroom, holding her book. She jumps up onto the bed and watches her mother get ready. "Are we going soon?"

Brennan nods. "Yes." She returns to the bathroom and brushes her hair. She blow-dries it and puts on a barely noticeable amount of makeup. "Are you ready?"

Christine nods. "I gotta pack my bag."

"You could have been doing that while I was getting dressed, Sweetie." Brennan shakes her head. "Go pack your bag and meet me downstairs. I'll pack snacks for us to take with us."

"I want goldfish, Mommy, and baby pretzels," Christine says as she rushes out of the room and into her own.

Brennan smiles and heads downstairs.

* * *

After a fun-filled, but exhaustive morning, Brennan pulls into their driveway and parks her car. She looks into the backseat to see if Christine is sleeping, since she's been rather quiet since they left the park.

Christine looks up from the book she's reading and smiles at her mother. "Are we home, Mommy?"

Brennan nods and puts her keys in her purse. "We are." She faces forward again and sees Booth's SUV in the garage. "Looks like Daddy beat us home, Sweetheart."

At the mention of her father, Christine throws her book in her backpack and unbuckles herself. She climbs out of her booster seat and hops down from the car. Pulling her open backpack behind her, the three year-old runs to the gate leading into the backyard and stands on her tippy-toes, trying to reach the latch.

Brennan gets out of the car and walks over to her daughter. "Why do you want to go out in the backyard, Christine? Daddy's more than likely in the living room watching television." She undoes the latch anyway and watches as the little girl pushes open the gate and immediately disappears behind the fence. She bends down and picks up the backpack her daughter abandoned and follows her through the gate. She blinks. "Wha—what is going on here?"

Christine runs over to her mother and tugs on her hand. "Surprise, Mommy!"

Brennan stares down at Christine.

"Daddy, I think we surpriseded her," Christine says when Booth walks out of the house.

Brennan lifts her eyes and meets Booth's. "What is all this? We already had a birthday party for Christine and I thought we agreed that bouncy houses are dangerous."

"This isn't a party for Christine, Bones; it's a party for you." He smiles and snaps a birthday hat on her head.

"Booth, this is ridiculous. I'm a grown adult and it's not even my birthday." Brennan pulls the hat off and looks at it. It's pink, white, bejeweled, and in the shape of a tiara.

"Just think of it as the birthday party you never got as a little girl." He guides her over to where their friends are all gathered around, talking and laughing.

"This is very unnecessary."

"Aw, c'mon, Bones." He nudges her. "Let go and have some fun. This doesn't make up for the fact that you never had a birthday party growing up, but you don't have to hold onto that anymore. Happy Birthday, Bones." He gives her a soft peck on her lips. "So what do you say, Bones?"

She stays quiet for a few minutes and just looks around, taking everything in. There are multicolored balloons tied to the chairs, confetti sprinkled on the tables and in the grass, a princess bouncy castle set up at the far end of the yard, and her colleagues are all wearing pink and purple birthday hats and Angela is holding a magic wand in one of her hands as she talks to Cam. She glances at Booth, at his hopeful, beaming smile, and puts the tiara back on her head. She steps closer to him and envelopes him in a hug. Resting her head on his shoulder, she exhales. "Thank you, Booth. You never had to go to work today, did you?"

He looks down at the ground. "Guilty." He pauses. "I wouldn't let anyone go in the bouncy castle until you got here. You and I are trying it out first."

"Booth, I don't think—," she's cut off by him picking her up and draping her over his shoulder. "Booooth! Put me down," she gasps between her giggles.

He kicks off his shoes and climbs through the mesh flap. Setting her down, he unties her sneakers and tosses them out of the bouncy house. He grabs her hands and pulls her to her feet, hooking his arms around her waist to steady her.

"I'm sure there's a weight and age limit on these things, Booth."

"You're never too big or too old to enjoy a bouncy house, Bones." He lets go of her hands and steps back, putting distance between them. He starts to jump around, not caring who's watching or that he's a grown man bouncing up and down in an inflatable castle. "Wahoo!"

"Booth, you look foolish." She tries to be serious, but she's finding it hard to keep a smile off her face or a laugh from escaping.

"You'll give in eventually."

Christine pokes her head inside. "Can I jump too, Daddy, or are you having special time with Mommy?"

"You can come in, Angel."

Christine crawls inside and pushes herself up to her feet. "Why aren't you jumping, Mommy?" she asks, starting to jump herself.

"I—."

Booth stops moving and holds her gaze. "Forget about potential injuries, forget that you're an adult, and just jump."

Brennan watches her daughter bounce around.

Christine laughs and tugs on her mother's hand. "Jump, Mommy, jump. Look at me. I'm a jumping bean." She runs around the castle and jumps up and down, circling her parents, a bright smile on her face, her eyes twinkling.

Brennan shrugs her shoulder and begins to bounce, keeping her feet planted. It takes her a few seconds, but she eventually leaps into the air and lets out a laugh when she lands again. She has to admit that that was fun.

Booth makes his hand into a fist and holds it up for Christine. "Great timing, Honey."

Christine bumps his fist and continues to jump around. At one point, she stands on her father's feet and holds his hands as he jumps up and down.

Brennan butts in and takes one of her daughter's hands and one of Booth's. The three of them jump about inside the castle, oblivious to the audience that has gathered around the outside perimeter and is peering in.

* * *

**_Thanks for reading!_**


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